The Plot Thickens
by Queen Kakia
Summary: Harry makes advances. Third in my Chocolate And Apples Series (Continuation of Having This Conversation)


TITLE: The Plot Thickens  
RATING: PG  
DISCLAIMER: Not mine. Except Ophelia.  
SUMMARY: Harry makes advances.  
  
  
Ginny walked into the Great Hall. Divination had been particularly horrible today, and she couldn't wait to complain to Cho about it. Wherever the other girl was.  
  
Ginny looked over at one of their usual tables. Oh, there she was...sitting next to Harry. Harry who had a huge crush on her and who had been the object of Ginny's affections for the past four years. _And after that whole speech about how he isn't better than everyone else, too._  
  
Ginny frowned, and then frowned deeper, because it wasn't right. Cho had a right to eat lunch with whomever she wanted to eat lunch with. Not that she was eating much lunch. Two apples on a tray didn't qualify as a meal in Ginny's opinion, but maybe that was why the other girl had always been so thin.  
  
Well, however she felt about it, she wasn't comfortable with going over and eating there. Maybe...? But no, Ron and Hermione were too engrossed in arguing heatedly over something or other, and she didn't want to interrupt. Those two were never going to realize their feelings towards each other, were they?  
  
Ginny put her tray down at the nearest empty table and sighed dejectedly. Sitting alone shouldn't have felt so weird--before she and Cho had become friends, she'd done it almost every day. Still, it was depressing. As if she couldn't even hold onto her one friend.  
  
"Oh no, what to do?" A voice behind Ginny asked in an unconcerned way. Great. Just what she needed.  
  
Ginny didn't look up. "Go away, Ophelia." If there was one thing she couldn't deal with now it was Ophelia Hammond and her lack of brain cells yapping away at her.  
  
"Your best friend and the boy of your dreams are hitting it off," Ophelia continued, sitting down next to Ginny, who immediately scooted over. _Go away._ To bad the blonde bubble couldn't read minds. "You're jealous, but then you feel guilty for being jealous. It's not like you're going out with him. You don't own either of them." She sighed, and it reminded Ginny distinctively of watching Crookshanks, Hermione's cat, play with mice. It was strange how accurate Ophelia was with her observation, though. Usually, the girl was about as clueless as a fish in a bowl of milk.  
  
"What do you want?" Ginny demanded. She didn't--okay so she _did_ have time for this. But not patience.  
  
Ophelia smiled. "Nothing, just to help. Do you know, I know the real reason why you're so upset at seeing them together?"  
  
There was nothing Ginny would have liked more than to punch her hand right through that grin, but she restrained herself. Detention was never a good thing. "I'm not _upset_, Ophelia. I don't know what you're talking about."  
  
"That's right, Ginger." The nickname that only Fred or George ever called her felt like acid coming from Ophelia's lips. She stood up slowly, so that every male in the room would be able to admire her curved form. Not that many were watching, because _some_ of them weren't the dogs Ophelia thought they all were. _Delusions of grandeur_, Ginny reminded herself. "Keep telling yourself that. Meanwhile, I must get back to my table. Can't keep the masses waiting." She smirked and walked away.  
  
The real reason she was upset. Ginny scoffed. She _wasn't_ upset. She wasn't as possessive and closed-minded--as _Ron_--as that.  
  
_Keep telling yourself that._  
  
_Shut up._  
  
-----------------------------  
  
"And don't forget your homework," Professor McGonnagal reminded the class. "Now, go."  
  
Ginny drearily picked up her books and walked out of the room. She hadn't seen Cho after lunch, which meant that she hadn't had a humor fix since about breakfast. A girl couldn't survive like that...  
  
She bumped into someone. "Oh, sorry."  
  
"Hullo, Ginny."  
  
Ginny looked up, and must have blushed twice as red as her hair. It was Harry. Harry Potter, the-- "Hi, Harry. How are you?"  
  
He nodded. "I'm fine. Actually, it's a good thing I ran into you. I was looking for you..." and her heart soared. "You're friends with Cho, right?"  
  
And her heart crashed.  
  
"Uh-huh," she managed to get out.  
  
Harry had the decency to look uncomfortable. She didn't know if he knew how she'd always felt about him, but he must have at least had a sense of it. "Well, what kind... what are her interests?"  
  
_Because I really like her and want to ask her out,_ Ginny completed the sentence mentally. But it wasn't _his_ fault that Cho was so easy to like, with her charming quirkiness...and her long, elegant hair...and-- "Um, I don't know," she found herself answering. "She likes...quidditch. And...uh, Potions." God, she was so jumpy.  
  
Maybe Ophelia had ben right. Maybe she _was_ upset...jealous, in some strange way. But really, who _wants_ their best friend to get together with their crush?  
  
"Thanks." Harry smiled and turned to walk away. "See you around, Ginny."  
  
"No problem," she muttered, watching him walk away.  
  
_Do you know, I know the real reason why you're so upset at seeing them together?_   
  



End file.
